Jack, a field medic gone to live in the mountains after growing sick of war, has made a strange discovery--a feral-seeming bird-boy collapsed in the snow. Jack takes the boy in to care for him, but just as the two begin to get along despite their language barrier, more bird people show up at Jack's door to take the boy away. As it turns out, these bird people are not feral but intelligent creatures with a culture and language all their own. But the bird people are shrinking in numbers, and despite the rescued boy's insistence that Jack seems kind, they feel threatened by his presence and knowledge of their kind, and may be ready to do something drastic to keep their tribe safe...

Kind-man-from-other-culture-becomes-accepted-by-native-population is of course not an entirely unfamiliar setting/premise, but it's certainly more unfamiliar in manga. And the fact that the culture in Song of the Hanging Sky is entirely fictional (even if clearly inspired by Native Americans) is one of the things that makes it actually more interesting. It's well thought out, with unique cultural (and biological) patterns and ways. On top of that, the depiction of a culture under threat of change and extinction feels very accurate, along with how it explores the ways people from different cultures can misunderstand one another, and the ways those misunderstandings can turn to fear and violence.

And that's the coolest thing about this manga. And that's great, because you don't see ideas like that explored a lot in manga, especially not to this extent and with this amount of skill. On the other hand, the main thing I usually look for when finding a manga series is a focus on characters that engage me, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that aspect in this story. That's not to say the characters were bad, but perhaps a bit different than I usually hope for. All are likable, but the cast is quite large, and the two mains (Jack and the boy), while intriguing, almost seem more like the main lens through which we will be watching the story of this culture rather than main characters this story will be "about." Also, the other characters are so numerous it was sometimes difficult to remember the previous actions and utterances of each, making it hard to determine personalities and form opinions of them. The less in-your-face characterizations were actually refreshing compared to what you get from many manga, but with the huge (and oddly named) cast, it did make things a little frustrating.

Still, despite not being exactly the kind of story I usually favor, the uniqueness of this manga, the interesting subject matter, and of course the general high quality of the writing and art, are enough to make me like this quite a bit and look for a second volume. I'll also add on a bit of a tangent that while I think the literary merit/use of many manga is quite often exaggerated, I think this a great example of a manga that could be used in the classroom. It brings to mind somewhat the books I was made to read back in middle school, when assigned literature began to focus less on mere comprehension and a bit more on introducing kids to new, discussable ideas and concepts. This manga is quite frankly head and shoulders above most of the literature I was given back then, as far as bringing up interesting/provocative ideas kids could discuss, while at the same time beating most of them in both entertainment value and artistry to boot. I'm quite surprised this story is this mangaka's first series. (Unfortunately this is a mere observation rather than a suggestion, as the manga is rated 16+ due to a shot of some waist-up naked bird people during a cultural clash incident.) ( )

http://kitsuchi.livejournal.com/188499.html ( )